Iowa passes law to protect utility workers from distracted drivers
Iowa recently expanded a 2002 law that imposes fines and penalties on drivers for failing to change lanes or reduce speed when passing emergency vehicles to include utility vehicles as well.
Electric utilities in the state launched a campaign to spread awareness of the law. The utilities hosted a news conference with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and created an ad campaign. The initiative also features a website where people can sign a pledge to move over or slow down when passing stationary utility vehicles.
“We want to proactively change drivers’ behavior to prevent close calls or incidents from happening in the first place,” Erin Campbell, director of communications at the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives in Des Moines, said.
All states have “move over” laws but only 12 states have laws that specifically protect utility workers.
Electricity cooperatives in several states including Louisiana, Pennsylvania and New Jersey have launched campaigns that seek to stop distracted driving and other dangerous driving habits.
“We’re set up on [the] side of [the] road, we’ve got our cones out, our lights are flashing, maybe we have a lane of traffic blocked, and yet we have a distracted driver either texting or flying right by us,” John Hobbs, a an apprentice lineman at Beauregard Electric Cooperative in DeRidder, Louisiana, said. “We have to worry about them and still continue to do our job.”
